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I found a passenger list on Ancestry that is very hard to read. I was able to find the same record on stevemorse.org and it is better but still extremely difficult. Is there anywhere else I could look for possibly another scan with better resolution or contrast?

The passenger I am interested in is Line #5. I believe this is Scholem Jomin. I "know" he was on this ship because his naturalization records indicate this ship, on this date. And on page 2 his destination in the United States appears to say "Passaic" as in Passaic, NJ which is where I know he lived at one point and his birth place appears to be Polotsk Russia which is also consistant. Scholem was the patriarch and first to come over so I'd be great to be able to read this document.

Hmm. I'm wondering if there's a way to see the originals (or to talk to someone who can see the originals)? Looking at the writing, it looks legible, it's just that the photocopy is bad (that the writing was too light for it to pick up). But I don't know how often the original still exists with these. (Would be interested to know, if anyone knows).

Former Ellis Island employee here. The records available on Ancestry and Steve Morse are scans of the original manifests. They were scanned onto microfilm sometime in the 1940s. The reason, basically because the records where falling apart and Ellis Island and many other immigration centers were simply no longer used in processing immigrants the way they were say pre 1924.

Chances are this scan is the best you will get. You can always try enhancing the image to see if you can clean it up.

I'll take some time and take a look at and see what I can come up with.